


Where Sea Meets Sky

by PencilSketchS



Series: Firmanent [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Castiel (Supernatural) is Loved, Castiel (Supernatural)-centric, Castiel - freedorm, Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent, Chuck Shurley is Castiel's Parent, Chuck Shurley is God, Chuck Shurley is So Done, Episode Related, Episode: s14e20 Moriah, Gen, How Do I Tag, Mentions of Judgement Day, Not Canon Compliant, Possibly Unrequited Love, Post-Episode: s14e20 Moriah, my interpretation of events
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 01:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19163035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PencilSketchS/pseuds/PencilSketchS
Summary: Castiel feels his world ending as Dean and Sam have their show-down with Chuck, pretty much baiting God into destroying everything they have accomplished and bringing on the end. Cas feels his world ending as Jack's eyes smoke where he lays on the cold, hard ground. But in the midst of his world ending the actual world is on the brink of destruction and he has to set his own loss aside if he wishes to salvage anything of their current situation. And even as he puts his own loss aside, he finds salvation in sacrifice.





	Where Sea Meets Sky

1\. Setting the Scene

It all played out like a scene in a movie, full of tension and drama. While it should have seemed trite, Castiel was all to aware that this was his real life, and these were events that would have real consequences. 

He felt real dread when he realized Dean had found them, when he turned to see him standing there, gun in hand. He felt real panic when he demanded Jack get away, while he stood guard, facing off against Dean. He felt real heartbreak when it was all for nothing and his body collided with the ground as he was effortlessly tossed aside and Jack stepped forward to face Dean's wrath and judgement.

He could only watch in horrified despair as his heart trembled at the thought of the loss that was unfolding before him.

If Dean shot to kill Jack, then he shot to kill himself as well. A world without Jack would be painful and unfulfilled. A world without Dean?

Jack dropped down onto his knees in the grass, head lifted and awaiting his execution. Beatific, accepting.

Dean's hand wobbled, but his thumb pulled back the hammer of the trigger, his aim steadying, ready.

A car door slammed and Sam was there, running. But Cas couldn't tear his eyes away. He was their witness. This was the only way he was of any use in this moment, as a witness to the last moments of the two people he loved more than anything else.

Sam shouted and Sam ran. It felt like it lasted forever. It felt like the wait lasted forever.

It all played out like a scene in a movie, tension reaching breaking point, poised to ignite, for Dean to take action.

And then nothing, because Dean lowered the gun.

Cas's chest and throat were empty as the hand that had been squeezing his heart disappeared. Dean didn't shoot.

2\. From the Mouth of Fools

Where the scene had been choked with tension, the quiet speaking volumes, the rushing of blood in his ears the loudest noise during that endless wait to see if Dean would shoot Jack, now it seemed like the sound had been kicked back up and words rushed over him from where he watched.

Jack has said, "I understand," while he'd looked up at Dean, waiting, before, "I know what I've done."

But now Sam was there and Sam was speaking, while Castiel's eyes swung over to fix upon Chuck with a sense of foreboding.

"What about all the other bad things we've killed?" and "why didn't you help us then?" fell from Sam's mouth. Castiel felt his own mouth echo the downward turn that's Sam's held, felt his own brow furrowing too. Chuck's deflections hid a depth of unsettling sentiment though. His Father wasn't placating, he didn't accept ungrateful criticism from his creations.

This cajoling now, this was wrong. This was an illusion. 

But Dean wouldn't be swayed, even when Chuck tried to bribe him with the return of Mary. Another resurrection?

Castiel knew fear then as Dean threw down the gun.

Castiel knew few as Dean voiced, "You go to hell!" at Chuck. The silent anticipation was barely perceptible.

Castiel knew fear when Sam raised the gun his Father had created and shot Chuck.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it," Chuck decreed, as Jack was dying and Castiel was frantically trying to heal him and failing, Dean's decision to spare their son made worthless, "then welcome to the end."

And then, without even a click, or a snap or a gesture, the bulk of the Winchester's lives were made worthless, as all of the souls they had purged from the earth burst forth from the ground to engulf them.

3.Judgement Day

Many religions had their version of the events of the final hour, of judgement day, of the resurrection, and it came now to Castiel, though he couldn't quite recall who had uttered the words.

"the souls shall return to their bodies after death, and the people will stand before the Lord of worlds. On that Day, the sun will be drawn close to them"

Souls shot free of hell. The sky was black and sunless. Corpses shuffled forth from their graves.

Smoke still curled up delicately from Jack's gaping burnt out eye sockets but Castiel had to stand an fight.

It was not only his world that had come to a screeching halt, but the actual end of the world seemed upon them. Between one moment and the next, Chuck was gone. Sam pulled himself off the ground. He had a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Dean looked around frantically as the corpses rose and advance. As Cas's angel blade dropped into his palm, Dean broke off two iron poles from a grave's iron fencing.

But these were not ghosts. And there were too many of them.

He didn't have the grace or the wings to fly Dean and Sam to safety, like he would have like. But as the horde descended on them, he could buy the brothers time to get away.

All he needed was to buy them a moment, give them a chance to regroup and figure out how to salvage the situation. It was not only his world that was on the brink of collapse, and while he had not saved Jack, he'd be damned if he's let Dean and Sam die here.

This might very well be the last thing he could do for them, for the world. And for all the bad decisions and catastrophic consequences his actions had had in the past, this one act could be his salvation.

All he needed was to buy them a moment.

At the last moment as the horde descended upon them, Castiel whirled around and grabbed at the brothers, wrapping his hands around their faces and covering their eyes and forcing them to be still as he flared the sad remnants of his wings and sent a concentrated pulse of the last of his grace out in a blast to vapourize the corpses.

All he needed was to buy them one moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I've stuck fairly closely to the timeline in the season finale, with just a smudge of events after the cliffhanger. And once again I've not really given the piece an overarching plot of any kind, just explored the episode via Cas's thoughts. I've promised that Cas will get hugs, I'm not sure if that end scene counts as a hug or not, but I will say that I plan on writing a longer fic now that I've written a few short installments, and this one will have both a plot and at least one hug for Cas. Promise. Watch this space.


End file.
